Online Edition 04.12.06

Pilgrims | by Andrea Avery

Work | by Aaron Belz

Music Man | by Daniel Durchholz

St. Pete's | by Franklin Jennings

Left Bank | by Brandyn Jones

The Training Ground | Tony Renner

Shoe Jail | by Stefene Russell

Work is a Four Letter Word | by Brett Underwood

Print Edition   

Shoe Factory | by Andrea Avery

All Eyes: The Mansion Hotel | by Thomas Crone

Why We Never Leave South City | by Julie Dill

The Man Who Ran Corn for Mister Otha Turner | by Chris King

How I Became a Zackaroo | by Brian H. Marston

On Being Mr. Bibbs | by Michaela McGinn

Six Things About Barges You May Not Know | by Butler Miller

Businesses and Buildings | by Dana Smith

When The Honest World Has Passed Away | by Stefene Russell

My Road | by Tom Weber

 


 

Work | by Aaron Belz

Yes, I have taken to plucking the white hairs
from my chest, a meaningless if exhilarating task:
each small fire point a reminder of work
left undone while plucking white hairs.

I find myself uninterested in these hairs falling
one by one into the clear toilet water.
Yes, I was plucking them before taking a shower;
I suppose you might say I was "stalling."

After the shower I had planned to work
on a number of meaningful if boring tasks:
reattaching the weatherstripping to the frame
of the back door, marinating a pile of shark

meat to throw on the grill this evening,
weeding and leveling the horseshoe beds
in preparation for another crazy spring party,
shaking up the wine, staining the porch swing.

Well, shaking the wine would have been fun.
Do you ever do that--to eliminate the dregs?
Yes, I have taken to shaking it quite hard
while standing on my patio, out in the sun.

 

BIO

Aaron Belz, professor at SLU and organizer of Readings @ The Tap Room, loves poetry almost as much as he loves his wife Becca, three kids, and home at Hartford & Spring. His new book, Plausible Worlds, is available at Dunaway, Left Bank, Subterranean and though the Observable Books website. He writes, "Please at least leaf through a copy even if you don't end up buying it."